The
25th Anniversary Water Law Conference will focus on the changing values
for water use and the resulting changes in legal conflicts over water.
The conference includes speakers and panels reflecting the broad
diversity of issues and perspectives on the most challenging issues now
facing the water law community. Speakers will discuss past, present and
anticipated future changes and trends in water law, and how those
changes will affect your practice.

The
conference will open with perspectives on the changing nature of water
conflicts and the most significant trends over the last 25 years, from
water law luminaries of the last quarter century. After a rousing
debate about changes in how courts defer to agency determinations,
particularly in light of the 2006 Rapanos decision, panels
will examine more closely certain critical issues now facing the water
law community – from instream use and conflicting sovereigns to
international conflicts and conservation. Friday morning will address
emerging issues that will change the nature of water law practice in
the next quarter century, including water quality issues arising out of
inter-basin transfers, resolution of water rights conflicts, and the
dynamic relationship between water law and science. The conference will
close with a special “Hot Topics” lunch on climate change and how it
may affect water law practice, including a presentation on California’s
recent efforts to assess how its water policy may need to change to
address global warming.

This
year’s conference also offers two early morning panels – one on water
law fundamentals to help those new to the water law field, and one on
the ethics of ex parte contacts in a world where water conflicts are
now often resolved outside formal adjudications.